When no one is here to save you
by ccnt789
Summary: One of Eliot's old friends stop into town and kidnap Maggie. A little cussing and violence towards the end. This is the first story I have done that is more than 500 words and my first Leverage story. Any criticism would be greatly appreciated. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1: Secrets and Fear

Chapter 1: Secrets and Fear

The conference room had been holding four figures for the last two hours. Parker, after fidgeting for the better part of the time, apparently decided that she had tried every possible seating position on the sofa. She was now laying with her back on the ground and her legs lying straight against the wall. Her only way of dealing with her restlessness was loudly popping her gum.

Eliot was lounging in the armchair he refused to give back to Sophie, despite her persistent pouting and nagging. He did one more check on his aiming before throwing the toothpick he had been chewing on at Parker's bubble. It made a loud popping noise before the gum fell flat across her face. She tilted her head up glowering at Eliot while he smirked and went back to reading the book perched in his lap.

Hardison sat in the center of the couch IMing someone with the handle "WOWhothuneyfth53" and reading News articles on the new Star Trek movie.

Sophie sat on the arm of the sofa absent-mindedly playing with her nails or just staring at her hands. Parker had looked at Sophie's hands a couple times but could not figure out what was so interesting. Without looking up from her hands Sophie asked, "Is that the girl you met during the job you tried to sleep through?"

"I did not sleep through it! I was fashionably late." Hardison quirked his mouth into a little smirk making sure to avoid the death glares he was getting from Parker and Eliot at the reminder of the painful memory.

Ten minutes went by before anyone said a word. Parker had flipped around to lie on her stomach. She was amusing herself by giving a rating to every building (or bridge) she had jumped off of since she joined the people in this room plus one other mad who has yet to show up. "Where's Nate?" she asked half expecting no one to answer.

"Dunno, hasn't been here all night though," Eliot replied vaguely.

"What?! How do you know that?" Sophie was becoming more alarmed over Nate's absence.

"Couldn't go home last night so I crashed here and I'm tellin' ya, no one came in."

"Why couldn't you go home?" Hardison could feel his inquisitive side beginning to itch.

Eliot shrugged, "old friend might be in town that I'm hoping to avoid."

That seemed to be all Eliot was going to say but it was enough to make Sophie suspicious and get Hardison to try and find something that could point to who Eliot was dodging.

Just then the front door quietly squeaked open. Eliot tensed and started to get up when he heard Nate heave a sigh out in the hall. Eliot relaxed a little but did not fully relax into the chair until after he saw Nate was in one piece. Hardison did not miss any of this reaction and started typing a little faster.

_Eliot doesn't have a shortage of enemies by any means, Hardison_ thought, _but it's not like the guy walks around handing out a list of killers he may have pissed off. Eliot was also smart enough to live in a quiet area with few cameras making a virtual stakeout and facial recognition hard. Hopefully Eliot feels like sharing for once._

"Where'd you go?" Parker chirped before Nate got into the kitchen for coffee.

Nate grimaced, "been driving all night…There's a problem…". The rest of the words meshed together.

"What's wrong?" Eliot put his book down and started watching Nate move around the kitchen.

"Maggie…she's missing."

"What?"

"She's gone. She called me last night while I was out. I called her back but a cop picked up. Had to go a couple towns over to answer some questions."

"I thought she was out of the country."

"Apparently not. Apartment looked well used."

Eliot seemed to be the only one who was able to speak. The other three sat in stunned silence, not sure of how to comfort their leader.

"Do the police have any clues?"

"It was a sloppy grab. I think they said that they found a fingerprint inside the bedroom somewhere."

"Alright so Hardison and parker go in as FBI and figure out who we're looking for."

"We can do that," Hardison finally spoke up.

Nate looked up, a slightly brighter expression in his eyes. _There is hope_.

Parker stood up and walked over to the kitchen. She gave Nate and awkward look before crashing into him in what was probably supposed to be a hug. She turned away quickly and opened up the long cabinet. The second shelf down had a false back. She pushed it and it popped open to show their credentials they used in old jobs. She grabbed the two FBI IDs from the bank job. She tossed Hardison's at him and it landed softly on his laptop. He pushed it aside as he went back to looking up Eliot's problem.

"You can still make it to the scene if you leave now," Eliot reported as he stood up.

"Yea alright. Hey Eliot, who's after you?" Hardison wanted to at least have a name to mull over later.

"Not the time Hardison. Can't you tell we have a bigger problem now? I'll take care of that, you need to go." Eliot headed for his office before Hardison could reply. He had to settle for staring after and thinking variations of _stubborn ass_.

Parker and Hardison left to change, leaving Sophie alone to be thankful that this was dry house, and dread the fact that there was a bar below them.


	2. Chapter 2: Gone

Chapter 2: Gone

Hardison and Parker left the scene with a name. They decided to call the office, if anything, to give Nate a little more hope. Hardison pulled a disposable cell out of his jacket pocket and dialed.

"Got anything Hardison?" Eliot sounded rougher than usual but Hardison decided that it could be from being stuck with a very despondent Nate.

"Yea we got a name, Vladamire Gorbachev from Russia. Got here yesterday. Must have grabbed her right after getting off the plane."

There was a long silence before Eliot spoke again. "Any idea why he took her?"

"Cops said she probably got involved with the wrong type of guy. Let Nate know alright?"

"Got it. Look Gorbachev up before you get back, call when you know more."

"Yea sure."

They both hung up at the same time. Hardison spent a little while thinking before he realized he wasn't being interrupted. He looked over to the driver's seat and realized Parker was not in the car. He panicked for a second before he saw her across the street licking a massive amount of relish off a hotdog. _It's amazing how clueless parker is when it comes to how to act around people_. Before his mind could start to wander he honked the horn to call her over. She threw out the now plain hotdog and skipped over to the car leaving a stunned hotdog vendor in her wake.

*~*~*~*

Eliot snapped his phone shut and shoved it into his pocket. Truth was, he was not going to tell Nate the name. He was not going to be here when Hardison called again. Hardison could call the office after he finds more information and then he can tell Nate. Eliot knew the name and while Hardison and Parker were out he found an address. He stayed in the office for the night to avoid a fight. But the idiot took Maggie. No idea why he took her but Eliot did not care.

He walked out of his office and through the conference room. "Need to go take care of something," Eliot said in the direction of Sophie and Nate who were still sitting quietly on the couch. They didn't reply as Eliot shut the front door behind him.

*~*~*~*

Fifteen minutes went by in the office neither of them saying a word, before the phone rang. Sophie picked up, "Hello".

"Soph? Hey, I found more info on our guy. He got here yesterday under the name of his-"

Sophie cut him off, "Hardison, wait, what are you talking about?"

"What? Eliot was supposed to tell you we got a name. Where is he? I need to give him a firm talking to."

"You got a name? That's fantastic, tell me what you know and we'll tell Eliot to head over when he gets back."

"Where'd he go?"

"I don't know. He left about 15 or 20 minutes ago, said he had to take care of something." Her growing frustration with Hardison's questions and Nate watching her hopefully made her miss the panic in Hardison's voice.

"Yea alright." He got Sophie caught up and said goodbye. He quickly called Eliot's cell and hung up when it went straight to voice mail.

"What's wrong?" Parker tilted her head in concern and confusion.

"Eliot left right after we gave him the name. You think the guy that took Maggie is the 'friend' Eliot was avoiding last night?"

"Sound like it's possible. His phone must be off of you wouldn't look this freaked. We can see if we can find where Gorbachev is when we get back to the office ok?"

Hardison nodded as they sped down random quiet side streets home. "Right, it's not like he can't take care of himself. Right?" He tried to convince himself that nothing was wrong but he could not imagine someone so bad that Eliot would hide from him.


	3. Chapter 3: Eliot Lost

Chapter 3: Eliot Lost

Eliot tried to avoid thinking whenever he could. It was better for his mental and physical health if he avoided over thinking his past, things he could not change. His past was dark, anyone could guess that. He would not dwell on it because it would only ring up haunting memories. He also kept his mind clear to keep it free to plan his attacks or hear attacks coming.

This time though, while driving, was different. He could not help but think about who he was about to face and what this man had done. Eliot had found Vladamire over four years ago. He had been running a town and took it upon himself to sleep with every woman in his town. After he was finished with them he would brand the woman's neck with his initials. Eliot was brought into it as he was passing through the town. He saw all the brands, an old woman told him the story behind the brands and ho had done them. He was planning on just running Vladamire out of town before he saw the brand on at lease twenty girls no older than twelve.

Eliot branded Vladamire after that. He could not bring himself to brand his neck. Just because he can, and has, killed before does not mean he will ever be OK with it or do it by choice. A brand on his neck could easily kill. Eliot did, however, leave the brand on for a long time after he pushed i into the inside of Vladamire's wrst. He must have very little movement in his wrist now, Eliot thought with some satisfaction, won't be much of a fight if he can only use one hand.

He pulled over to the curb two blocks from the motel Vladamire was staying in. There was an alley between a couple of factories. He walked down the alley trying to avoid getting any extra attention.

Reaching the motel he looked through the dilapidated fence around it to see into the windows without being noticed by anyone inside. Finding Vlad's room Eliot counted three men with him that were walking around looking bored. Two of them had guns showing and one was watching a form on the bed that must have been Maggie. Eliot, trying to think of the best way in, heard a loud snap followed by blinding white pain shooting through his side.

_Huh_, Eliot thought as he fell to the ground, _I guess Vlad has a fourth man, with a gun._


	4. Chapter 4: Backup and Pain

Chapter 4: Backup and Pain

"How can I not find where Vladamire is staying!?" Hardison felt about ready to toss his laptop out the window after searching Vlad's name or aliases.

"Nate needs to know about this."

"Parker, Nate has enough to worry about without blaming himself for Eliot's death too!" Sophie was pacing back and forth in the conference room while Nate was upstairs taking a shower.

"Eliot isn't dead is he?" Parker became frantic at the thought.

Hardison tried to be soothing, "I'm sure he's fine, Parker. Once we find where he went we'll get him back."

Parker had a thought and it sputtered out before she realized it. "What if Eliot looked up where Vlad was staying before he left?"

Hardison stared at her for a second before bolting out of the room. He ran to Eliot's computer happy to see that it was still on. He moved onto the web history and found what he was looking for. "Got it," Hardison called out, "Vlad is staying a few miles past where Maggie was taken."

"Alright, Hardison, you and Parker go as backup. I'll stay here and keep Nate occupied."

With that they rushed out of the room to their respective duties.

With a jolt Eliot whipped his head up. He wasn't outside the motel anymore but inside. He locked eyes with one of the henchmen and tensed up only to get a shot of pain through his wrists and chest. He looked down. He was being held down by a impressive amount of barbed wire. He was also shirtless and the hole in his side was not bleeding. _They cauterized it?_ Eliot grunted as he tested his movement._ That can't be a good sign._

Eliot was no stranger to torture and cauterizing a critical wound meant they had a lot planed.

"Welcome back Mr. Spencer." Vlad smirked with his greeting. Vlad sat in a chair pushed up against the only door, and the only exit because motels this rundown have the windows nailed down. He looked at Eliot with humorless but content eyes. Vlad had years to plan this but Eliot did not get it.

"What do you want?" Eliot knew it was a stupid question but he hoped to stall while he figured out how much skin he would lose if he pulled his hands free and reach for the knife on the tale two feet away.

"I already got the first thing I wanted. You. That turned out to be much easier than I thought thanks to the beautiful Maggie over there." Vlad's accent was thick and conceded.

"Eliot looked up to Maggie for the first time. She did not look like she was hurt. She was tied up with rope but it did not look like she feared for her life, but for his. Eliot tried to make his tone lighter and more mocking to sound less in pain than he actually felt. "Well you got me. Now what? Time to reveal your evil plan?" _Egging him on, that can't go wrong.  
_  
Vlad just flicked his eyes to a henchman standing behind Eliot. Eliot saw Maggie's eyes go wild before hearing a butterfly knife flicking open and the cool metal pressing into the back of his neck and sliding down his spine. It did not reach the muscle but he could feel the skin pulling away from the new cut. Eliot closed his throat to avoid any sound escaping and scarring Maggie even more. He did, however, torque his body away from the knife making the wire cut deeper.

Vlad stood up. "This is not funny boy," he growled out. With that he sent a punch to the bridge of Eliot's not causing it to bleed freely. "You are going to beg me to kill you hours before I comply." The knife reappeared at Eliot's shoulder and Eliot could not bite back that scream.


	5. Chapter 5: Plan and Panic

**I'm sorry people this took forever. I don't have follow through and have never written an ending to a story. This story was written a few season's ago when Eliot pretended to go out with Maggie.**

Chapter 5: Plan and Panic

Two minutes after getting in the car Parker started bouncing in her seat. "Can't we get there any faster?"

"Woman, I'm trying my best! We're five minutes out." Hardison was playing with his phone while he was driving to turn all the lights he needed green. Using that he made great time but it still felt like he had been driving for hours. "He'll be fine Parker. I mean it is Eliot. It's not like he can't take care of himself right?" Hardison was not sure who he was trying to convince.

Eliot had been unconscious for several minutes and Maggie could see Vlad was getting bored. He got out of his chair and stared at Eliot. Vlad gave an order in Russian to the two henchmen standing in the room. They both grabbed a side of Eliot's chair and dragged him into the bathroom. A minute later the water was turned on in the tub. Vlad walked into the bathroom with a pair of wire cutters flashing in his hand. The chair was thrown back into the bedroom followed by a loud splash. It was silent for a moment then what sounded like someone thrashing in the water. Maggie relaxed a little satisfied with the fact that Eliot was still alive

Maggie saw her chance. With no one else in the room she started inching towards the table at the end of the bed where the Russians had left the few knives they found on Eliot. She got to the end of the bed and grabbed the biggest knife. She slid the knife between her wrists and cut the rope. She had just gotten the rope cut off of her ankles when the sound stopped in the other room. She started to panic before Eliot was pulled out of the water and began coughing. She scrambled back to the top of the bed and slid the knife up her sleeve. She laid the rope back across her arms and ankles to look like she was still tied up.

Vlad came back into the room dragging Eliot with a hold under his arm. He tossed Eliot into a table where he bounced off and fell limply to the ground. Maggie let out a small shriek as she heard a loud crack that must have been Eliot's ribs. Without the wire on his stomach and wrists it was too easy to see the damage it caused. Eliot laid on the ground gasping and sputtering a mix of water and blood. His eyes rolled up to look at Maggie. His mouth moved to speak but before anything came out he was kicked in the ribs.

"The dead do not speak unless spoken to Mr. Spencer." Vlad sneered down at him, his eyes dancing.

"I ain't dead yet," Eliot chocked out. Though I will be soon, he thought as he saw a pool of blood forming around him. The kick had opened the hole in his side.

"No, I suppose you're not. But that is so you can answer me one question. How does it feel knowing that no one is here to save you."

Eliot replied with a loud laugh. He did not know why he was laughing he just did not think of anything else to do. His mind was getting hazey making it hard to think of a plan. He just had to get Maggie out. What happened to him or anything else, did not matter.

"I will finish with him. It looks as though he only has minutes left in him. You may do what you wish with the girl." One of the henchmen nodded and smiled as he turned toward Maggie. Eliot growled. "Love makes you stupid Mr. Spencer. You must have forgotten that."

"Who am I in love with man? 'Cause it sure as hell ain't you and I barely know her." His voice was starting to become more air than sound. Vlad stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"Whatever you feel for her brought you here, to this end." He walked closer feeling confident in his victory. Eliot was relying on that.


	6. Chapter 6: Taser

Chapter 6: Taser

Parker was out of the van before Hardison got into the drive way. She ran around the side of the hotel. Hardison parked to follow her when a man came into his view. The man was wearing a suit and the white dress shirt was spattered with blood. He saw Hardison and started running towards the van. Hardison forced the door open just in time to clip the man and send him tumbling. The goon got up and grabbed Hardison by the jacket and pinned him against the van. Hardison let out a gasp but then laughed as he saw a blonde standing on the car behind him. She was holding the taser that she always seemed to have on her. She jumped off the car bringing the taser down on the back of the man's neck.

When the man fell Parker grabbed Hardison's arm and led him to the door Eliot was behind.

Eliot threw his foot out as hard as he could, forcing it into Vlad's shin. Vlad came falling down and one of the guards reached for his gun. Maggie threw a punch into his eye and sent him falling backwards. Eliot moved to stand up and Maggie tossed him the knife she was hiding. Eliot grabbed it by the handle and forced it into the floor pinning Vlad's jacket to the ground inches from his shoulder. Eliot sent his knee into the face of the man Maggie had hit and stood up to take out the other one. He grabbed the chair which still had a lot of the barbed wire on it and broke it across the other man's head. Eliot vaguely heard his name being yelled and turned as Vlad was thrusting a knife in his direction. It sank deep into his arm and Eliot screamed out. Pull the knife out of his arm he pressed it against Vlad's neck forcing him against a wall.

"Why do all this huh? Why take Maggie?"

"We have been watching you for weeks! We saw you with her a number of times and knew you were with her. Obviously we were not wrong!"

"Sorry to burst you superior bubble but ya' were."

"Then why did you come. You must have known it was a trap."

"I'm not letting her get hurt because you wouldn't just come after me! Didn't have the gut's did ya?"

"This isn't over. I will be the one to end you!"

Eliot just smirked. He pressed the knife closer to Vlad's neck. Vlad twitched a little before hearing a noise outside. Assuming it was his third man he fought back. Eliot, distracted while trying to judge where outside that noise was coming from did not see Vlad force his fist into Eliot's side. Eliot screamed and crumbled to the ground as the door burst open. Vlad turned towards the door in time to see a skinny blonde girl pointing a taser gun at him and shooting. He fell to the ground. Parker was still holding the trigger down as Hardison ran into the room and fell to his knees next to Eliot.

"I…I think he's still breathing," Maggie stated, interrupted by a sob.

Parker finally let go of the trigger and looked around at the room. She saw a bloody hunk of barbed wire near the bathroom door and pieces of a bloody chair next to it. On the other side of the room was a pool of blood and a few feet away from that was a very motionless Eliot. As soon as she saw his chest move to his breathing she ran out of the building and came back with a bulky duffle bag. She dropped it next to Hardison and zipped it open. She grabbed a large role of gauze and looked at Maggie. "What's the worst here?"

"Over here, he was shot on this side. But he's going to need stitches." Maggie still could not look away from Eliot, her broken hero.

Hardison had taken off his jacket and put it over Eliot's legs. "Called Sophie already. She n' Nate'll be here in ten minutes with an ambulance. 'Till then we'll need to hold him together." While he was talking he grabbed another roll of gauze and started on Eliot's wrists. Maggie dug through the duffle and found some butterfly bandages for his head.

Nate and Sophie pulled up as they finished covering all the wounds they could find in the motel room. Nate jumped out first and ran toward Maggie. He was planning on grabbing her in a hug and never letting her go but stopped mid-stride seeing all the blood and Maggie's tear streaked face next to Eliot. Sophie opened the back hatch of the ambulance and started pulling things out that she thought Eliot might need to patch himself up.

She got out expecting to help Eliot in but soon saw that he was far from the ability to walk. She helped carry Eliot into the ambulance. Hardison convinced Maggie that Eliot would be ok and told her to follow the rest of the team in the car he came here in while he went to find Eliot's truck.

Nate did not know much about how to fix people up so he resigned to driving while Sophie and a very focused Parker worked in the back.

Sirens blazed in the distance, _Hardison must have called the police after we left_, Parker thought, I _would've killed them_.


	7. Chapter 7: Awake

Chapter 7: Awake

Day in and day out and Eliot still would not wake up. Parker had maintained a vigil in his room. No one ever saw her leave which got Hardison to raise a lot of questions no one could answer.

"Parker isn't the type to just sit around. What is she doing to keep herself entertained in there?"

"As long as she doesn't take Eliot on one of her jumps anytime soon I suppose it doesn't matter." Nate walked back to the sofa where Maggie had been sitting since they got Eliot home.

Truth was, no one had left Nat's apartment in the last three days. They wanted to be there when Eliot woke up.

Parker sat cross-legged on Eliot's desk staring at him laying on an old couch in his office. "Eliot I know what you did was stupid and impulsive but you probably saved Maggie's life. I want you to wake up now though. If you care at all about me you'll fix my boredom and wake up! You need to be here to tell me what not to touch. The last thing me and you did together cannot be you popping my gum." That sounded like a good idea. She pulled a piece of gum out of her pocket and quickly started chewing it. She got off the desk and crouched next to the couch. She blew a huge bubble and popped it.

"There's something wrong with you." He opened his eyes and stared at the blonde who was trying to wrangle the gum back into her mouth. She looked up at him, eyes lighting up.

"Eliot? Great first words."

"Why was there no wrapper on that gum?"

"Wrappers make noise."

"Right, why didn't I think of that?"

She smiled and bounced out of the room. She came back holding Maggie's hand, the rest of the team following behind her.

Maggie started crying again, "God Eliot I'm so sorry!" She went to leave but Eliot grabbed her arm.

"You didn't do anything to be sorry about Cher."

"But look at you!"

"I wouldn't do anything different either. I just wanted you to be safe again."

"Why?"

"You're not a thief but you're still family."

She smiled and squeezed his hand, "Thank you."


End file.
